


Career Girl

by Cantatrice18



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Feels, Fluff, Gen, Insecurity, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 02:27:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9361832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cantatrice18/pseuds/Cantatrice18
Summary: Tina urges Queenie to use her legilimency to help MACUSA, but the suggestion touches a nerve and Queenie's reaction is more than mere sisterly annoyance. Sometimes a talent can become a curse.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is set about a year before the movie, so 1925-ish.

“And it would have been so much faster, if only you’d been there.”

Queenie took a sip of tea and lazily turned a page of Witch’s Brew magazine, her eyes skimming over instructions for a potion to clear the complexion. “We’ve talked about this. You know it isn’t what I want.”

Tina sighed in frustration, staring at the ceiling from where she lay flat on her bed. “I know, but I still think you’re missing the best opportunity of your life. It took us three days to get anything out of the Brooklyn Goblin Gang’s ringleader. You’d have had the location of their hideout in under a minute.”

“Not likely,” Queenie countered. “I’m no great shakes at reading non-humans.”

“Alright, not the goblins, then,” said Tina impatiently. “What about the wizard we picked up allegedly selling dark amulets to No-maj teenagers? Or the witch last August accused of freezing all the pipes in the East Village? One glance into their minds and you’d have known the truth in an instant.”

Queenie shut the magazine and slapped it down onto the nightstand with more force than necessary. “I’m not a judge and a jury, you know,” she snapped. “People deserve their secrets. How many times have you ordered me to stop reading you, to respect your privacy? Just drop it, already.”

“But these are criminals,” Tina wheedled. “You could help me track down the worst of the worst, to keep our people safe and hidden. You could actually use your gifts, rather than waste your life shut away in some dingy basement office. And you wouldn’t need to see everything they thought, just the relevant bits.”

“It doesn’t work like that.” Queenie gathered her satin dressing robe closer around her. “I don’t choose what to see. And the last thing I need in my life are the memories of some violent gang leader or No-maj killer swimming around my head. It’s hard enough to keep my own thoughts straight without that.” She shivered involuntarily. “Let’s pretend, for a moment, that I could do what you’re suggesting, and only see the bits of information that related to a case. Do you really think that’s right? Is that really what MACUSA should stand for?”

She heard a rustle of clothing as Tina rose and crossed the narrow divide between their beds to sit on the end of her pink quilt. “You’re upset,” she said quietly, soft brown eyes examining Queenie from every angle. “Why are you upset?”

“I just told you why!” Queenie exclaimed, crossing her arms and turning away. “I don’t like being treated like veritaserum!”

“Alright, I’ll stop. But that isn’t why you’re upset, not really.” Tina lunged forward and grabbed Queenie’s hand, tugging at it until the younger girl looked at her. “I may be no legilimens, but I know you, remember?” 

Queenie’s lower lip trembled, but her eyes were defiant. “Not well enough, I guess. You’ve never known how to leave well enough alone.”

“Queenie,” Tina murmured. Her expression had shifted entirely, annoyance replaced by concern. “Queen, what’s gotten into you? Normally you can just blow me off, but this is serious. I’ve hurt you.”

Queenie stared down at the blankets that pooled in her lap, her shoulders raised defensively. “It isn’t you. Not really. Though it would be nice if you trusted me enough to let me make my own decisions, rather than prodding at me.”

“I’m sorry.” Tina ran her thumb gently along the top of Queenie’s hand. “I swear I won’t mention the subject again. But I have to know what’s going on.” She scooted forward along the length of the bed until she could reach up and brush away a tear from Queenie’s cheek. “You can tell me. Whatever it is, I’ll listen.”

Queenie flinched away from her sister’s hand, then exhaled, her shoulders slumping. “I just want to make sure my life belongs to me, and not my legilimency. I know it’s a gift I should use, that it gives me advantages, but it’s so exhausting just going through a normal day. I dunno if I’d be strong enough to make a whole career out of it, or how much of myself I’d have left afterwards.” She hung her head, her body shaking as tears fell onto the blankets below. “I just want some things to be normal. Not a lot, just some. Do you think—“ she looked up just enough to meet her sister’s eyes. “Do you think it’s possible for me to be anything but a legilimens?”

Tina hugged her close, letting Queenie’s tears leave water stains on the shoulder of her mint green pajamas. “You already are so much more than just a legilimens. You’re smart, and brave, and kind, kinder than anyone I’ve ever met. You cook like a millionaire’s chef and you sew dresses even Chanel would kill for. Your Charms work beat out everyone in your class at school. And alright, maybe you don’t want to be a career girl and climb the ladder like the rest of us. But you are so much more than your power.”

This speech had the opposite of its intended effect, for Queenie only cried harder, clutching onto her sister as she wept. Tina rubbed gentle circles into her back, waiting for Queenie to run out of breath. When at last the young woman’s sobs had subsided, Tina rose to return to her bed. “Wait,” Queenie hiccoughed, grabbing Tina’s arm. “You’re more too.”

Tina looked back in confusion, and Queenie swallowed. “You’re more than an auror. I mean, you’re a great auror, but let’s say someday you stopped being one, you’d still be great. A great sister, a great friend. A great witch.”

Tina smiled at her and Queenie grinned back, a giggle escaping her throat. “You’re pretty great, is what I’m saying.”

“Same to you,” Tina answered, ruffling her sister’s hair. “Now go to sleep. Some of us have work in the morning.”

“Both of us have work,” Queenie corrected. “Making tea might not be as important as saving New York, but it has the same hours.”

“True enough.” Tina slipped beneath the covers of her own bed and pulled on the cord that turned out her lamp. Darkness engulfed the room, save for the street light that sent pale beams of light splaying out across their ceiling. Queenie pulled the blankets up around her neck and turned over onto her side. Exhaustion tugged at her, urging her to give in to sleep, and she obeyed its commands. As usual her legilimancy was the last sense to fade, and her final image of the night was that of herself, confident and whole, reflected back at her from Tina’s mind. Snuggling deeper into the pillows, she let sleep overtake her, and knew no more.


End file.
